Stripping plexi panels

[Reeltarded]

Ideas?

Scraping is bad. Solvents not going to make you happy. Sanding would be a cloudy mess. I can't think of anything great to try.

[Reeltarded]

I HAD considered sanding against a fence to make the sanding marks straight then engraving, paint fill, overspray, but my hopes were to make it optically clear to transfer a design onto.

[Tony Bones]

plexiglass can be polished by going through progressively finer grades of sandpaper ending with buffing compound. You could also pickup a fresh piece of Lexan from Home Depot.

[Reeltarded]

har har har moooooo...

Man, I hate to bore holes in it..

[Tony Bones]

It's not much fun to work with, especially thin sheets. I once tried gluing it to a piece of MDF to make it easier to cut and drill. It was easier, but I don't think it was worth the trouble in the end.

[Reeltarded]

Shortcuts will be punished.

[guitarmike2107]

you would have to get the stripped surface looking perfect to not notice it when you re-paint it.
a laser cutting place could cut you a piece to the right size and cut out the holes for you too if you are drilling averse. That is what I would do anyway

Good luck

[Phil_S]

Use 2 sided carpet tape to fix it to a table or a board. Then clamp the board. Wet sand to keep debris/dust under control. Polish as described above until it's clear. You can buy the tape locally at a carpet place or on ebait for under $10 for a lifetime supply (as long as you don't go into the carpet installation business.)

If you are concerned about making it level, build a very shallow box so that only a .25mm of the work piece is proud of the fixture. Sand it down using a block that spans the opening. You'll know when you''ve removed the .25mm. This is an amount likely the eye won't detect any unevenness you might leave.

[guitarmike2107]

for $10 you could just get a new piece..... I could probably post you a new piece form Scotland for that amount

[Stevem]

Warning! You do not want to go thru the trouble of getting new lexan and try to drill it with normal bits as you stand a really good chance of cracking the stuff, you need the right type of angle bits.
One way around it which takes longer is to first start out with a very small hole and then with a bit a small amount bigger then you actually need drill a chamfer on both sides of the material , then drill to your final size.

[Reeltarded]

Warning! You do not want to go thru the trouble of getting new lexan and try to drill it with normal bits as you stand a really good chance of cracking the stuff, you need the right type of angle bits.
One way around it which takes longer is to first start out with a very small hole and then with a bit a small amount bigger then you actually need drill a chamfer on both sides of the material , then drill to your final size.

^^^^ all truth the thing is I have access to every sort of tooth ever made but getting large holes centered and cut to match (perfectly) is a pain in the glas.

[statorvane]

Warning! You do not want to go thru the trouble of getting new lexan and try to drill it with normal bits as you stand a really good chance of cracking the stuff, you need the right type of angle bits.

Ditto. I have found the step bits for drilling different size holes into sheet metal work really good here. Start with a small pilot hole, then switch out to the step bit. I use a drill press, low speed and clamp the piece once centered.

[Tony Bones]

Drill bits made for wood boring work pretty well. The ones with a point in the middle and knife edges on the outside diameter. Go slow, use a drill press if possible.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-Tita ... /202279642

[TUBEDUDE]

We used to polish out scratches in aircraft plexiglass with cig ashes mixed with toothpaste. Years later i discovered Micromesh, a polishing system that has graded abrasive sheets up to 20000 grit. Looks better than new.